Artemas Ward

Artemas Ward (26 November 1727-28 October 1800) was a member of the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 4 March 1791 to 3 March 1795, succeeding George Leonard and preceding William Lyman. Ward was also a general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, but he was forced to retire after the Battle of Bunker Hill due to being too old and too sickly.

Biography
Ward was born on 26 November 1727 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and he graduated from Harvard College in 1748. Ward served in the Massachusetts Assembly as a judge on many occasions, and he became a militia colonel at the time of the French and Indian War. He was prevented from taking part in the attack on Fort Ticonderoga by an "attack of the stone", probably meaning a kidney stone problem. On 3 October 1774, his regiment of militia resigned from the British Army and nominated him as their leader as the American Revolutionary War drew near, and Ward directed the 1775-76 siege of Boston from his sickbed. On 17 June 1775, after the battle of Bunker Hill, Ward was promoted to Major-General alongside Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam, being one of the four originals. However, Ward would resign from the Continental Army on 20 March 1777 due to health issues, and he was twice elected to the US House of Representatives in the 1790s before his death on 28 October 1800.